Watertown Commission on Disability

Article from www.redorbit.com
Posted on: Monday, 19 April 2010, 11:15 CDT

When it comes to high-tech gadgets like the iPad, most people see a sleek multi-media entertainment platform, but Prof Gregg Vanderheiden sees other potential possibilities for the new Apple touch-screen device.

Vanderheiden, director of the Trace Research and Development Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, says the iPad could be an important tool for people with speech problems and other disabilities.

“Say you have somebody who’s had a stroke, for example, and they wake up and they can’t communicate… Instead of buying a 5,000-dollar communications aid you take out your iPad and download an app and—bam!—they can communicate,” he told AFP.

The Trace Center helps those who are unable to speak and cannot communicate properly, and researchers from the center, including Vanderheiden, are excited about the potential the iPad is showing for a relatively-low cost communications tool.

Karen Sheehan, the executive director of the Alliance for Technology Access, a California-based group that looks for ways to expand technology to allow those with disabilities to live better qualitative lives, said there is much interest in the iPad.

People with autism, spinal injuries, cerebral palsy or ALS, and stroke victims could all possibly benefit from the iPad—“Anyone who’s non-verbal and needs a device to speak for them,” said Sheehan.

There are many useful communications tools available for helping those with disabilities, “but they tend to run into the thousands of dollars, which can be prohibitive for a lot of people,” said Sheehan. The iPad can be turned into a very inexpensive communications tool that does the same job as many of the more expensive medical devices.

AssistiveWare is one company that has adapted communications applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Their “Proloquo2Go” app has been revamped to also work with the iPad and is available at Apple’s App Store for less than $200.00.

“Proloquo2Go” works by allowing users who have difficulty speaking to communicate using symbols to represent phrases. They can also type in what they want to say and the words can be converted to speech using text-to-speech technology with a natural sounding voice.

The iPad’s large screen makes it more useful to a wider range of people than the iPhone and iPod Touch, said Sheehan. “They’re such a small area and for someone who has limited fine motor it’s hard to hit small icons… It’s easier on the iPad to just click on an icon to say ‘I want juice,’ or ‘I want to watch a movie.”

Joanne Castellano, the director of New Jersey-based TechConnection, which provides “assistive technology” solutions to people with disabilities, said that the iPad seems like a very useful tool and although the touch-screen controls are part of the attraction of the gadget, it could prove to be a challenge for some people with disabilities.

“The way you have to pinch some things with your thumb and your forefinger—that movement might be a problem for some people,” she said. “But to turn the page of a book you just have to swipe it so that could be very helpful.”

Dan Herlihy of Connective Technology Solutions told AFP he planned on getting the iPad to use with other tools he utilizes to address the needs of people with disabilities. “And I can already think of about half a dozen things I’ll run on it,” he said.

Vanderheiden said the iPad is a “great platform—small, inexpensive, a lot of power, a long battery,” but its greatest contribution to the needs of the disabled may be from the applications built for the device.

“They offer the opportunity for just tremendous, unprecedented innovation.”